2023 Tony Awards predictions: What plays and performances will win? [WATCH]
The 2023 Tony Awards race for Best Play has already made history, even before the winner will be revealed on June 11. For the first time, three Pulitzer Prize-winning dramas were nominated in the same season for the top honor. According to Gold Derby’s theatre pundits, though, none of those works will take home the prize. Sam Eckmann and I recently reconvened to debate this “extraordinarily strong category” and the 10 other play races ahead of Sunday’s ceremony. Watch the full video slugfest above.
Out front all season long, Tom Stoppard’s “Leopoldstadt” looks to retain its edge for the prize of Best Play. Both Sam and I predict the breadth and topicality of the legendary playwright’s work will propel the Olivier-winning drama to victory, but we both have Pulitzer-winner “Fat Ham” in a strong second place. “I think ‘Fat Ham’ feels like it’s another play that is speaking to right now, and it highlights Black voices and queer voices,” explains Sam. We also flag a potential upset for “Ain’t No Mo’.”
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While we have narrowed down the possibilities in that field, Play Revival feels a lot more challenging to crack, and we therefore pick different winners. Sam predicts Jamie Lloyd’s take on “A Doll’s House” will prevail because the director “found something new to say with this piece that has been around for eons.” While I concur, I bet on Suzan-Lori Parks’ Pulitzer-winning “Topdog/Underdog,” in part because it is undoubtedly the “most acclaimed” production of the four nominees with the fewest detractors.
Despite his compliments for Lloyd, Sam thinks Patrick Marber of “Leopoldstadt” will claim the trophy for Best Director. “I don’t think there’s a definite frontrunner who’s steamrolling this category,” admits Sam, who says the Stoppard play is “a massive thing to wrangle.” I agree, adding, “It’s an epic in terms of the story it’s telling, the time it’s traversing, the complexity of the family and the historical plot.” We clock outside chances for “Fat Ham” and “Life of Pi,” which has the massive technical components of past winners like “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” “War Horse,” and last year’s “The Lehman Trilogy.”
SEE ‘Leopoldstadt’ reviews: New Tom Stoppard play is ‘remarkable,’ ‘harrowing’
In an unquestionably strong year for performances in plays, who will claim the coveted four acting prizes? Beginning with Best Actress, Sam and I agree immediately on Jodie Comer (“Prima Facie”), who faces stiff competition from Jessica Chastain (“A Doll’s House”) but who nevertheless delivers an “undeniable” performance. “I can’t believe this is her first time on stage. It’s insane to me,” marvels Sam. Chastain may still take home a Tony this year as a producer, though, if “Doll’s House” wins Best Revival.
Back in April, Sam and I struggled to narrow down the uniformly excellent crop of Best Actor contenders to a top five, but we now seem to have landed on the top three mostly likely to win. We both give the edge to Sean Hayes for “Good Night, Oscar,” in which the Emmy Award-winner plays real figure Oscar Levant. Sam flags “man of the theatre” Stephen McKinley Henderson (“Between Riverside and Crazy”) as a potential winner, and I shout out Wendell Pierce for his take on Willy Loman in “Death of a Salesman.”
“I feel pretty secure that this is Brandon Uranowitz’s year,” reports Sam on the four-time Tony nominee’s prospects of winning Featured Actor for “Leopoldstadt.” I wholeheartedly agree, but in picking other potential winners, I mention Arian Moayed (“A Doll’s House”) while Sam backs Jordan E. Cooper, star and playwright of “Ain’t No Mo’.” Cooper’s co-star Crystal Lucas-Perry is number one on Sam’s predictions for Featured Actress, and he suggests that if the show was still running she would be “the biggest lock of the night.” While I have her ranked second, I think Miriam Silverman (“The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window”) will prevail, in part because the production is still running and in part because it’s a role that has already claimed a Tony for Alice Ghostley back in 1964.
With so many nail-biting races above the line, could the design categories be swept away by “Life of Pi”? We certainly think so, as we have the Olivier-winning stage adaptation of the 2001 novel winning at least three of the four trophies, including scenic, costume, and lighting design. Those aren’t slam-dunks, though, especially as Sam singles out “A Christmas Carol” for scenic design, and he wonders if enough voters know that the puppets are considered part of the costumes of “Pi.” I throw a curveball prediction in the mix for sound design, picking the “intimacy” and meticulousness of “A Doll’s House” to prevail for its pivotal role in bringing the “whole conceit” of the production to life. Sam says that he just might follow me out onto that limb.
PREDICT the 2023 Tony Awards through June 11
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